


Collide

by SoulOfEmerald



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, City setting, Fresh does kind of fit that role though, Gen, Lots-o-violence, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader-Insert, Real Life Setting, Slight OCs (extra role filling mostly.), So is most of the population, So much Sans - Freeform, Toby Fox is dead, Underverse, accidental murder, human!reader, more tags to be added later, non zombie apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8803387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulOfEmerald/pseuds/SoulOfEmerald
Summary: A few days after the death of Toby Fox, the Underverse collapses in on the real world, placing the characters all in one spot with the normal humans.  Chaos ensues, and the world suffers many losses.  Humans and monsters die, and those who sided with murder and evil reign supreme.You are a human survivor, who joined up with a few friends to help protect the remaining good survivors.  After a mission goes wrong, you find yourself alone in the city without anyone to call an ally.  You meet up with some of the many characters of the Underverse, although the circumstances have changed them.  Blueberry is a thief, Mafiatale characters rule the alleyways, and Error isn't as crazy as usual.You quickly find yourself swept into one danger or the next, all the while trying to find out what happened to the Underverse in the first place.  Is any of this reversible?  Could the world be saved?  Or is everybody doomed to a life of danger?
   On hiatus, NOT ABANDONED!





	1. Prologue

Toby Fox was a composer and a coder.  He loved to make music for whatever possible. From his friend's popular webcomic, to his own game, which he had named Undertale, he had shown his talents to the world.  With the money he made off the game, he had plenty of spare cash.  So, he decided to take some of that money to buy a new car.

By this point one might assume that this would be a story of success, or of how a human from the real world fell into the Underground.  This is not that kind of story.  This is your story.  This is the story of how you manage to live in a world that toppled over the verge of collapse.  This is the story of chaos and violence, and how you manage to try to survive.

By the time you’re reading this, Toby had traveled a half mile.  His mind was wandering slightly, thinking about what his next game would hold.  That said, he did not notice the truck that was racing towards him at 70 mph, and the sound of crunching metal rung throughout the air as the large truck and the small car smashed head on.

 

* * *

 

The funeral of Toby Fox was held only days later.  The truck driver had experienced a heart attack while at the wheel, and lost control of the rig.  The court was still trying to agree on whether the driver was responsible, despite it clearly being an accident.  The driver was making a full recovery in the hospital, but Toby died on impact.  A wooden coffin with a little dog engraved into it held his battered remains.

“He was a good friend and coworker.  He will be missed by all.”  Andrew Hussie finished.  He was good at hiding his emotions, but everyone could tell that the death of his friend was eating him up inside.  Temmie Chang was sobbing in the front row, along with Toby’s relatives.  It seemed that the whole world was mourning, at least to those in attendance.  After everyone had their chance to say a few final words to or for Toby, the coffin was carefully lowered into the grave that was dug two days prior.  Slowly, the guests departed, and the graveyard was quiet.

 

* * *

 

CORE!Frisk was silently watching over the multiverse.  They felt a strange sense of an incoming threat, but they had been feeling it for weeks now, so they mostly ignored it.  Mostly, but not completely.  They were somewhat overprotective, yes, but they knew about all the dangers of certain timelines that could harm most of the multiverse.

They quickly checked in on some of the more dangerous timelines.  Ink and Error, the representations of creation and destruction respectively, were fighting again.  CORE!Frisk didn’t pay much more attention than that, knowing that one would never defeat the other, and the two would both live on like always until they met again and fought some more.

Next up was Underfresh.  CORE!Frisk was always worried about this one.  One single resident of Underfresh escaping into the multiverse could cause mass chaos.  They shuddered, and took a quick peek into the forbidden timeline.  When everything seemed to be in order, they left quicker than they arrived, which was very close to impossible, knowing that their method of traveling from timeline to timeline was to focus on tiny particles of their soul at different locations and use their remaining determination to teleport.

They stopped at a few other timelines.  They made sure that Underfell was in order, along with Mafiatale, and later on had a small chat with Geno!Sans just because they could.  They soon returned to their small little safe haven in the multiverse, where they brought the survivors of dead and dying timelines.  Most of them had some sort of new phobia from the destruction of everything they knew and loved.  Many had a fear of blue string or wires, and others had a fear of puppets and puppeteers.

CORE!Frisk flitted around for awhile, making sure that nobody got into any major fights, or tried to return to their timelines where there was nothing but death to greet them.  When all seemed to be fine, they talked a bit with anyone who was up for conversation.  One of the good things about CORE!Frisk being able to visit any timeline was that they became a great counselor.  They were having an idle chat with an Alphys when it happened.

The multiverse collapsed.

Nobody knew it was going to happen, but it did.  Timelines blurred into one another, and some weaker timelines disappeared altogether.  Within the span of ten seconds, the multiverse had melted into one singular mass of time and space.  The mass pulsed a little, then cracked, and vanished.

 

* * *

 

The first to appear were the classics.  Some people watched as they fell from the sky with shock and horror, while others took it as a sign from Toby, whose death had become quite the popular topic amongst gamers.  When the monsters recovered from their fall, they were greeted by many friendly faces.  The Swaps and the Fells appeared next.  At this point, even those who had been so excited to see their favorite characters in real life were beginning to question what was going on.  Nobody saw Ink and Error appear, but everyone knew that they’d probably be there.

Others appeared, more quickly now.  If you could picture an AU, it was probably there.  Undersail?  Found in the Atlantic Ocean.  Horrortale?  Scattered, but mostly in food markets.  Storyshift?  Again, scattered.  Most of the timelines were scattered, actually.  Despite the political troubles of having what seemed to be at least hundreds of new citizens randomly appear in almost every country, things went along fairly smoothly for the first two days social wise.

Then everything went wrong.

If you know about the Underverse, then you probably know the vast variety of situations and conditions that could be found in timelines.  In one, the monsters could be in different roles, or could have a new interest, like chess or dancing.  But in another, they might be fighting for their lives against anything, disease, humans, or even each other.  In some, they could be friendly and welcoming, but in others, they could be psychotic killers.  The reason that everyone got along was that each timeline was separated, so that each monster was always with someone who has found themselves under the same circumstances.  This kept the many monsters in the Underverse safe.

But the Underverse was gone, and now there wasn’t any way to keep them separate.  Those who were used to murder, such as Underfell or Horrortale, were happy to quickly pick off those from the kinder timelines, such as Underswap or Dancetale as well as the humans that had lived there long before their arrival.  The kinder monsters were unable to properly defend themselves against the aggressive monsters, and despite the weapons that were at the human’s disposal… well, let’s just say overpopulation was quickly wiped off the list of problems.  Nukes were fired, guns went off, blood was shed.

But it still wasn’t enough.

The world leaders were killed, and the entire planet fell into a state of anarchy, where chaos and instincts ruled supreme.  Every time someone tried to step up as a new leader, they were found dead within the same day.  Soon, nobody even tried to step up.

But not all hope was lost.  Some of the better people in the world had managed to survive in one way or another.  In the bigger countries, a hefty military still remained, governing themselves equally.  They found themselves defending what was left of the good population from the killers and the thieves.  Some of the good population cowered in basements or bunkers, jumping at every little sound.

And then there’s people like you.  You’re one of those who found themselves in the middle.  People like you form little groups of survivors, some all monsters, some all humans, and some are a mix of the two.  The groups decide amongst themselves what they would do.  Some choose to join the worst of the population, and some defend others who need defending.  

Your group decided to defend others.  It was a difficult responsibility, yes, but it was worth it to see the thankful smiles on the faces of those you save.  Being a smaller group, you all focus on defending people from one single danger.  One of the few timelines that didn’t become separated.  One of the most dangerous ones that once roamed the Underverse.  One that poses a formidable threat to all living things.  

This isn’t a story of love or luck.  This isn’t a story of fate or friendship.  This is a story of survival.  

 

Your story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! I have actually managed to get off my lazy butt and post something! I know that this is only a simple prologue, and it may seem boring. But worry not, I already have the next chapter planned out, and it should be an interesting one indeed!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	2. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little while after the world goes insane, your story begins with a bang.

A cool breeze ruffles your hair as you look over the darkened city from your perch atop a three story building.  The lights haven’t been running for weeks now.  The main power stations have long since been abandoned, as there was nobody left who was willing to risk their lives to run them.  If there was any power left, then whoever had it was sure doing a good job of hiding it.  A good sized personal power generator was hard to come by, and those desperate enough would literally kill for one.  

Off to your left lies a portion of the city that was fenced in by military vehicles and makeshift fences.  Inside the fence, the walls were lined with neon graffiti.  A yellow, rectangular sign could be seen just above the fence, halfway on your side, and halfway on the other.  You could easily picture the bold black lettering that broadcasts its message.

QUARANTINE.  STAY OUT!

You glance down at your watch.  12:30 AM.  It was time.  You nimbly leap from the roof and land upon one that had only two floors.  You maneuver like this for a few buildings, scaling walls when necessary.  You’ve memorized the route you take by now.  Finally, you reach the last building before the road gets blocked by the fence bordering the Quarantine Zone.  12:33 AM.  The military always switches out the guard right about now.  Sure enough, you peer downwards and see the soldier that was supposed to be guarding the entrance leave.  You had about five minutes before a new guard took his place.

You leap from the rooftop, over the fence, and land gracefully in an alleyway on the other side.  You don’t have any time to waste.  You dodge into a side path where the alley leads into a main road.  You look down at your watch again.  12:34 AM.  Any second now.

Footsteps echo down the road and ring in the alley.  You look up just in time to see a human looking girl turn into the alley and walk towards you.  She wore the brightest neon pink shirt you’ve ever seen, and a bright yellow shirt underneath.  Her leggings were striped neon orange, green, and blue, and her sneakers were blindingly bright purple.  Four multicolored clips rested in her brown hair, a pink and purple one on the left, and a green and blue one on the right.  She had on one of those pink pairs of star shades that you’d usually find for less than a dollar at a yard sale.  As she stepped calmly closer, the veins around her left eye became more and more clear, and you could see the network of sickly purple lines that would mean bad news to almost anyone who bears them.

You stand calmly and wait for her to approach you.  She stops about six feet away.

“Yo brah, you know how uncool it is to be out at this time of night?” She asks.  “Some people in this world are totally all up wack in the head, ya know?  You wouldn’t want one of them getting ahold of ya!  What’re ya doing out here at this time anyway, my radical homeslice dawg?”

You calmly look her in the eye.  “The silver moonlight soothes the soul.” you answer.

She nods, accepting the password.  She takes off her shades to reveal two warm brown eyes.

“Let’s make this quick.  I almost got caught last time.” she says with a slight edge to her voice.   You both close the gap between you until it took up only about three feet.  She lays a map of the city on the ground.  It wasn’t a full map of the city, it was mainly the first five miles around the Quarantine Zone, but that was all you ever really needed.  There are many small notes written in sharpie, pen, you name it.  Many of them only make sense to the one who wrote them.  She points to a spot on the western end of town, just a few blocks away from the current border of the Quarantine Zone.  According to the group of house shapes, it was a residential area.

“This raid is going to be a biggie.”  She explains.  “Fresh and at least 50 of their infected are going to try to capture this place and infect some folks in about three days.  I think they’ve learned by now that it’s safer to try to go after the West side.  Anyway, based on my calculations on the original population of that area and the crime rate, I’d say that there’s about 150 people you’ll have to evacuate.”

You nod.  Three days to evacuate that place.  It wouldn’t be too hard.  You’ve evacuated more people than that in even less time.  It helped that you weren’t alone.  Your other teammates were waiting for you at the base, and you took a second to feel grateful that Mega had volunteered to act as a spy here in the Underfresh Quarantine Zone.  Underfresh was one of the first AUs to turn against everyone else, and was one of the ones that only had a single member at first.

“Try not to procrastinate.  It wouldn’t be the first time if they decided to launch their plan ahead of schedule.”  Mega adds on.  “Then again, it also wouldn’t be the first time if something happened and they launch their plan late.  Just treat it like they’re going to attack a day early.”

You tended to think that way already, but it couldn’t hurt to be reminded every once in awhile.  You look up from the map, and notice that the carefully drawn, vein-like lines around her eye were partly smeared.

“You might want to fix your makeup.” You say, pointing to her eye.

“Wha?”  She reaches into a hidden pocket in her second shirt and pulls out a mirror.  “Are you kidding me?  I JUST applied this!”  She reaches into another pocket and pulls out a purple face paint pen, then begins to quickly apply it.  You look at your watch.  12:38 AM.  Time to go.  You look up at Mega again, feeling slightly sorry that you have to leave your friend in such a dangerous place.  But she wanted it.  She finishes fixing her disguise, and puts the face paint and mirror away again.

“Hey, what time is it?”  She asks.

“Time for me to go.”  You answer back.

She nods, and picks up her map.  She folds it quickly and expertly, and places it in the pocket with the mirror.  She slips her shades back on, and smiles as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

“Great chit-chat, but I gotta bounce.  See ya on the flip side!”

With that and her well rehearsed 90’s lingo, she stepped back out of the alley and into the streets.  You dart over to a drainage pipe on the side of one of the buildings and begin to climb.  

* * *

 

You made it out of the Quarantine Zone without any sort of trouble, and now were standing in front of your team’s base.  It was a simple storage building that you all had found, then put hammocks inside it along with other necessities.  You sigh, smile, then step into the place that you called home.

“Where have you been?” 

One of your teammates, nicknamed Agg Ressive, was standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips.  She was called that because of how violent she could be, despite the fact that she was one of the shortest people in the group.  Her dark brown hair matched her perfectly, landing a  centimeter or two above her shoulders.  She was wearing jeans, a pair of thickly rimmed glasses, and a worn down yellow T-shirt with The Lion King on it.  Lethal daggers hung from a belt around her waist.

“Seriously, you took so much longer than usual!  Explain!”

“I don’t know, it just took me longer!”  You say.  You know Agg wouldn’t normally take that for an answer, but you might as well start by telling her the truth before you’re forced to lie.  That said, you were surprised by her reply.

She sighed.  “Fine.  Just get in here and tell us what’s up.”

There was a set of rules in your group.  One of which was that when you go out to get updates from Mega, nobody is allowed to leave until you came back and tell of any potential attacks.  That way everyone can be prepared to go on a rescue or evacuation mission on a moment's notice.  As you walk into the main section of the base, you see the rest of the members are all waiting for you.

The first person you see is Sarah, a tall girl with curly brown hair.  She was wearing a shirt that featured Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, and it appeared that she left her chainsaw in her room today.  Physically she was almost the exact opposite of Agg, but mentally, the two were like siblings.  Which basically meant that both of them were excessively violent.

Next were the Sierras.  They were sitting together and holding hands, talking about anime.  One Sierra had short brown hair and glasses like Agg, but that was the only thing the two really had in common besides a love for anime and videogames.  The other Sierra had long blonde hair and wore a coat.  Neither of them had a specific weapon, but they instead used whatever they could get their hands on.  Give them a knife or a chainsaw, and they’ll fight just as well with either.  The two were pretty good teammates on their own, but when the two were together, they were virtually unstoppable.

A laugh erupts from the corner of the room.  There you see Tanya and Eli telling jokes.  Tanya had long, curly, blackish-brown hair and glasses, while Eli had straight, shoulder length black hair and glasses, along with a matching black coat.  He was holding his latest read, his fifth one this week.  Tanya struck a dramatic pose as a joke.  She was one of the ones who had fangirled whenever she saw a Mettaton, right before they all died from being too self centered and weak.  But that never stopped her from striking poses and making jokes about being fabulous.  Tanya had set her unloaded gun beside her chair.  Eli wasn’t that good at fighting.  He helped evacuate people, and acted as the bad cop of the two that accomplished exactly that.

Curly Blades was sharpening his swords, judging by the sound of scraping metal.  He had brown, curly hair, which looked kind of like a natural afro.  At least, it did when he wasn’t wearing his red “DUDE” hat.  He was also rather good with an axe, along with fighting in general.  He was a good natured guy, and took up the role of both a lover and a fighter.

Admiral Sparklez was the only one who was sitting alone that wasn’t doing anything productive.  His shoulder length auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing glasses and his lucky blue hoodie.  He was quietly tapping away at his tablet, probably playing a game or checking the time.  He always found a way to keep that thing charged, no matter what.  It drove both you and everyone else crazy.  He had a charger hidden away somewhere, but nobody cared enough to go looking for it.  Like Eli, he wasn’t a very good fighter, but he would tackle anybody when necessary.  He was like the good cop of the main evacuators.

Ivory was wrestling with her dog, Eevee, who was named after the Pokemon.  Her brown hair was dyed dark blue and purple, and she was wearing a shirt featuring chibi versions of characters from Attack On Titan.  It was hard to tell if they were playing or training sometimes, but based on the laughter, it wasn’t hard to guess which.  Ivory and Mega were virtually inseparable at first, before Mega volunteered to be the spy.  Ivory always listened to the reports intensely ever since.

Soul was polishing her flamethrower, which she had won during a drawing contest with a military soldier.  She had long, straight, black hair and often wore it in a ponytail.  She wasn’t the most dangerous person in the group, but she also wasn’t helpless.  She looked up as you passed her.

“Hey guys, look who’s back!” She calls out.

“Well it’s about time!” Curly Blades remarked.

Everyone focuses their attention onto you.  You step into the center of the room and begin to tell them of the attack that was planned for three days later.  After you finish, the room fills with unsure whispers.  Fifty of those infected, along with Fresh themself.  It was an unnaturally large group for a raid.  Strange or not, it was still to be taken seriously, and your next task was to be fulfilled.  Your group didn’t tend to evacuate people right off the bat unless necessary.  Instead, if you all had a few days, you would go out on a scouting mission and see exactly what was required of the group.  Today was no exception.

You barely have enough time to get a piece of beef jerky from the snack horde (your group’s nickname for the food storage) before Agg is literally shoving you out the door.  You don’t complain.  You know she means well.  Why should you be eating in comfort when others may suffer for it?  After Agg shuts the door behind you, you quickly recall where the attack was to take place.  You grab the nearest ledge of the nearest building and begin to climb.

 

* * *

 

After traveling from roof to roof for about a half hour, you make it to your destination.  You lay down for a few seconds and catch your breath.  These attacks seemed to be occurring farther and farther away lately.  When you get up, you see that Mega’s estimation might have been a bit high.  Many of the buildings seemed to have been ransacked, and the dried blood and monster dust on the ground weren’t very promising.  But looks can be deceiving, especially now.

You slowly make your way around the residential area, and quietly inspect the buildings throughly from the outside.  You see motion in the windows of a few houses, and you could hear the quiet sound of sobbing from one.  It wasn’t a new sound, but it still received sympathy from you.  You had been on that same boat when the world first went downhill.  Crying, seeing friends and family die before your very eyes, and wishing that it would all just end.  You shake your head to clear it and force yourself to move on.

After completing your rounds, you decide that there was probably about a hundred people worth saving, and the rest had become criminals or died to them.  When the average was found between Mega’s calculations and your scouting, you decide to tell the group that they should be prepared to evacuate about one hundred and twenty-five people.  A quick check of your watch said that the time was 2:17 AM.  You sigh, looking forward to napping in your hammock before the evacuation.  With the pleasant thought fueling you, you begin to make the trip back.

 

* * *

You were about four minutes away from your base when the gunshots started.  As a military vehicle passes by, you fight your exhaustion and travel faster.  The shots grew louder as you neared your base.  You try to push away the wave of dread at the back of your mind to no avail.  The last two blocks were harder to traverse by rooftop, so you make your way down into the street and traverse them by foot..  As you turn the last corner, the wave of dread turned into one of horror.  

The chaos practically engulfed your base.  Soldiers were firing at dozens upon dozens of those infected by the Fresh parasite, and you were nearly deafened by the sound of gunfire and furious screeching.  The sky was lit up by the multiple headlights of the military vehicles, illuminating the faces of both humans and monsters, and making shadows leap across the walls.

A hand brushes the back of your neck as it grabs your shirt collar and pulls you towards it’s owner.  You try to turn your head, and see a familiar pair of YOLO shades atop the skull of a short skeleton.  

“You should’ve stayed away, brah.  But at least one of us radical dudes are going to benefit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOW DO YOU 90's LINGO? Seriously, I have very little knowledge of that kind of stuff. Can we just blame Mega's horrid attempt at it on the fact that she's not actually infected by the Fresh parasite, and that she's not fluent in 90's?
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first actual chapter of this thingamabober! I must say, this is pretty fun to write. Also, as you can see, I don't have an update schedule in place. I feel like if I work on this without a set deadline, I'll probably be more motivated to work on it in my free time instead of it feeling like a chore. Sorry about the inconvenience for those who prefer to have a schedule planned out ahead of time.
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be completed by the end of December. Hopefully. Not making any promises here. It's likely that I might get caught up in doing other things. It's just the nature of the season.
> 
> I'll see you in the next update (whenever it is)!


	3. Tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes wrong.

Without stopping to think, you try to drive an elbow into Fresh’s ribcage.  They don’t flinch.  Of course not, a parasite like them wouldn’t be able to feel it.  All you did was hurt the innocent host.  With a single, fluid motion, they try to kick your legs out from beneath you.  If they managed that, then there would be no way for you to recover and avoid being infected.  Instead of falling however, you use the abilities you’ve accumulated over the past few weeks and use their motion to your advantage.  You use the little slack that was available from the motion and jump forward as much as possible with Fresh holding your shirt.  When they try to pull you back, you headbutt them in the skull.  The blow made them loosen their grip, and you manage to quickly pull yourself free from their grasp.

Turning around, you punch them near the eyesocket where the parasite within resided.  This truly made them recoil. However, instead of fleeing, they tried to return the blow.  You dodge and go for another punch, but they were ready for you and ducked out of the way.  You both continue to fight, until the sound of gunfire suddenly became louder, and bullets whizzed by you.  Fresh, seeing how the tides have turned in your favor, clicked the wheels of his heelys in place and skated backwards to the safety of the dark alley that you had come from.  As you consider pursuing him, a single bullet grazes your leg, and you let out a quick cry of pain as you stumble.

A few seconds later, a human soldier grabs your shoulder and turns you around to face him.  He doesn’t look too welcoming.  He looks at your left eye for a good three seconds, then he pulls out a flashlight and shines it in front of your eyes.  You squint at the light.  You quickly realize what he was doing, and you fear that your response to the light would doom you to death by gunfire.  However, despite your response, he nods his head and yells over to the nearest soldiers.

“They’re not infected!”

Another soldier, who seemed to be sweating excessively, even in his current situation, called back.

“Well then give em’ a gun and get to doing something important!”

The first soldier reaches into one of multiple gun holsters on his back and pulls one out.  You couldn’t tell what kind or model it was.  He shoves it into your hands.

“If you don’t know how to shoot, then stay out of the way.  If you do, then open fire on anything in neon or heelys.”

With that, he turned around and ran to assist an uninfected dog monster who seemed surprisingly used to being in a fighting force.  Despite this, he was almost surrounded by those who were infected by the Fresh parasite, and yet he screamed taunts and called them cowards for not daring to approach him.  You don’t wait around to find out what happened next.  You instead scaled another building and began to snipe at neon targets.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, you finish firing at the last of the infected.  When everything seemed clear, you leave your post and rejoin the soldiers.  Most were either giving each other high-fives, or were inspecting the bodies of the dead to make sure that the parasite that had lied within was truly dead as well.  You approach the three soldiers from before.  You had decided on nicknames for them while the last of the infected were fleeing or dying.  The first soldier, who you had decided to call Stern, was the first to notice you.

“Hey, what’re you still doing here?  We appreciate your help, but you’re clearly not needed here anymore.”

“Relax man.  Maybe they want to join in.” Sweaty, who was the second soldier, commented.  K9, the dog monster, simply looked in your general direction with a confused expression.

Stern seemed to ignore what Sweaty said.  “What’re you doing here anyway?”

“Perhaps I _live_ here.” You reply.  You can’t keep the slight annoyance out of your voice.  Upon hearing this, Stern raised an eyebrow.

“Really now?  I don’t suppose you’d recognize the victims then?”

You pause.  Victims?  They had to have meant those that had participated in the attack, right?

“Come on” Stern commands.  “I’ll show ya.”

He leads you over to a group of soldiers standing around a few bunches of dusty clothes and some clearly dead bodies.  He gestures for you to look at the bodies.  When you see them, you can’t believe it’s real.  It had to be some sort of prank.  When was April Fools day?  You couldn’t remember.

Lined up in a row were the bodies of most of your teammates.  All of which had their left eye gouged out with purple lines starting to form where the Fresh Parasite’s slime had begun to absorb into their bloodstreams.  All of them had bullet wounds somewhere on their body.  Some were still dripping with blood, showing how recent their deaths were.  The Sierras, Ivory, Eli, everyone was lined up as if they were just another number to add onto the death count.  The only one you didn’t see was Agg.  She was most likely at the farthest end of the line, where you couldn’t see her as well.

You feel tears welling up, turning your vision into a blur behind them.  You fall to your knees, numb to the pain of your leg, which had stopped bleeding when you wrapped it with a piece of spare fabric on the rooftop between kills.  Your friends are gone.  Gone forever.  Your home is no longer safe.  For the first time in weeks, you truly break down.  You don’t care what the soldiers think of you.

You cry.

 

* * *

 

The soldiers all decided to allow you to stay at a nearby military base.  They took you to the medical building, where your bullet wound is properly bandaged up and healed by a monster who looked like a goat lady.  A Toriel, as your friends referred to them as.  You try to push the thought of them out of your mind.  It still hurt you to think of them.  Instead, you take another look at the Toriel.  They wore a suit of armor that suggested that they were used to combat.  Yet, they were still caring.

After your wound was healed, the other soldiers let you leave with no resistance.  You didn't know where you were going to go, but you didn't feel as if you had fit in with the military.  For the first few hours, you investigated what was left of your base.  Almost everything was trashed beyond repair.  The walls were loaded with bullet holes, your supplies were undoubtedly ruined, and the weapons that your friends had wielded were mostly a pile of scrap.  All except for one.  A single sword, still sharp from Curly’s effort to make it more deadly.  It was scratched, but it was still usable.

You decide to take the sword with you.  As you approach the food horde, you hear the sound of hushed voices, and you find the door to the room open.  Peering in, you saw three ragged scavengers raiding the cabinets.  Two men and a woman.

“Aw sweet!  Bacon jerky!” one of the men whispered upon opening one of the leftmost cabinets.

“Sheesh, whoever was here last was either living the good life, or was as blind as a bat without sonar!” the other man commented.

The woman looked uneasy.  “Nobody could miss out on all this.  Somebody still lives here, I'm sure of it!”

The man with the bacon jerky turned towards her.  “You're kidding me, right?  You see all those bullet holes?  Anything that lived here is long gone by now!”

You cough.  The three of them freeze.  They turned to look at you, and judging by the terrified faces they made when they saw you, they clearly weren't prepared to go up against someone with a weapon.  The woman was the first to break the silence.

“I _told_ you!  Now look what you've gotten us into, Freddy!”  She didn't bother to whisper anymore.

“Leave him alone, Blair.  You did decide to come along, after all.” the other man said.  Without waiting for her response, he walked over to you and confidently held out his hand.

“Sorry about the others.  The name's Jason.”  After you shook his hand and accepted his offer of formality, he gestured towards the woman.  “She's Blair, the ugly one.”  This sparked visible annoyance in the woman, and Jason held up his hands surrender style.  “I forgot to tell ya, she also can't take a joke.”  He nodded towards the other man.  “That's Freddy, the self elected leader.  Just between you and me though, he can't lead worth a darn.”

“Yah?” Freddy asks with a chuckle.  “I'm not seeing you stepping up to fill the role.”

“That's because I also have no idea how to lead.”

Blair was unamused.  She continued to look at you.  “So, what's going to happen now, swordy?  How many more of ya are waiting to see what the cat drug in?’

You shrug.  “Nobody.”

“Lies.  What're you planning?”

You normally wouldn't tell others this information, but you feel like these three wouldn't make much of a threat.  “The others are dead.  Died fighting a battle that they couldn’t win.  I'm the only one left.  So take some food, I can't eat it all before it goes bad anyway.  Just save a good amount for me, okay?”

You begin to leave the room.  As you do, the trio whispered amongst each other.  You wander into your old sleeping quarters and see that your hammock wasn't as destroyed as everything else.  It had multiple holes in it, but there was about a 63% chance that it would hold together if you laid on it.  You decide that you liked those odds, and you lay down to take a nap.

 

* * *

 

You and your friends were at a store, talking and looking at the goods the store had to offer.  There was a window in the nearest wall, showing a beautiful partly cloudy day. After deciding to buy a few packs of cards, you all exit the store.

Upon exiting the store, the time changed to a starless, pitch black night.  The only thing adorning the darkness was a crescent moon, ominously placed amongst the shadows.  You turn to your friends, hoping that you weren't the only one who was freaked out by the change.

They were melting.  The bullet holes that they had suddenly gained were spewing crimson blood, and their limbs and faces and everything else about them were contorting into horrific, impossible messes.  You try to run.  There was nowhere to go.

 

* * *

 

“Oi! wake up, sleepyhead!”

Your eyelids snap open.  You scamper to a sitting position from your spot on the floor as you breathe heavily from the shock of the nightmare.  Apparently the hammock decided to go against the odds you predicted and fell while you slept.  Why that didn’t wake you up, you didn’t know.  Freddy was standing near the doorway, which due to the room’s small size, was actually rather close.

“We all had a talk after you left.” he states after your breathing returns to normal.  “We want to ask you something.”

You raise an eyebrow, signaling for him to ask away.

“You said that your friends were gone, and we did a search of the building.  We found nobody.  So we thought, hey, the more the merrier!  Long story short, do you want to join us or not?”

You sit there and stare at him for a little while.  On one hand, going with the trio would be much safer than traveling alone.  On the other hand, you only knew them for about an hour if you added in how long your nap took, and you didn’t know if you could trust them.  In the end you decide to risk it.  What did you have to lose anymore?

“Well?” Freddy asks, slowly growing impatient.

You look him in the eyes and give him a slight nod.  “I’m in.”

 

* * *

 

You had traveled with the trio for only a day, and you found yourself constantly wondering how in the name of absolute heck they managed to survive this long.  You had seen them make so many stupid choices, you made a list of them.

1: Traveling in the day, where they could easily be spotted.

2: Walking in the middle of a street.

3: Carrying all their possessions with them.

4: Carrying barely any weapons, even when there were some available.

A single raindrop smacks your forehead, startling you with it’s sudden chill.  This droplet was followed by another.  Soon an entire storm was pouring down, soaking you and the others.  You all duck under an awning in an attempt to stay dry.  Freddy and Blair didn’t look too happy to be both drenched and stuck, while Jason simply leaned against a wall, shook some water from his blonde hair, and opened his fifth bag of jerky.  The regular kind, because Freddy ate all the bacon jerky before you could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

“Well, now what?” Blair asked.  She always seemed to be annoyed by something, no matter what the circumstance.  

Freddy sighed.  “Now we wait for this to die down.”

The three of them tried to pass the time by talking about nothing in particular way too loudly.  You try to focus on what they were saying, but it wasn’t long before you felt something you thought was only felt in stories.  You felt as if something were watching you, looming in the shadows.  After the unease refused to subside after a few minutes, you break away from the others.  You’re not going to wait around with them to die.

Jason glanced over.  “Hey, where ya going?”

You didn’t bother to answer.  You were looking at a wall, slick from rain.  The drainpipe was too slippery to be climbed, so you take a risk and try to climb by the window sills.  You thought you could see someone starting to approach you from under the awning, but you paid thiem no heed.   The building was only two stories high, so you manage to get to the top with minimal hassle.  You observe the area around you and the trio to see what could possibly be making you feel so uneasy, but you found nothing.

“You’re going to catch a cold up here.”

You squeal embarrassingly and instinct leads you to punch Freddy in the face.  He let out a cry as he reeled back from the force of the unexpected attack.  He went too far back.  With a scream, he fell over the roof’s edge and landed on the pavement below with a sickening crack.

“Freddy!”  Blair cried out.  You hear the sound of frantic footsteps as you try to get off the roof as quickly as possible.  When you meet the others down there, you see the effects of what you’ve done.  Blood was pooling around Freddy’s skull, only to be washed away by the relentless rain.  Jason was kneeling beside him, telling him to stay strong and to stay with them.  Blair took one look at you and started screaming.

“Traitor!  You’re no better than anyone else in this forsaken place!”

Freddy coughed.  “Don’t blame them………….I snuck up on them………. They didn’t know I was following them….…..It’s my fault.”  He smiles weakly.

Blair looks at him, then bursts into tears.  You all know that this was the end of the line for him.  You all could do nothing more than watch as the last few minutes of his life drained away, until there was nothing more than a fleshy husk left of the man you had met only hours before.

Jason and Blair run you off soon after they finished mourning the loss of Freddy.  You couldn’t blame them, really.  You hated yourself, even though you knew it was an accident.  Who knows how much they despised you now.

The day had turned to night.  The feeling of being watched never went away, even as you tried to blend into whatever shadows were available.  After a while, you begin to ponder whether or not you were losing your mind.  It couldn’t be that though, right?

You find yourself trying to hide in a maze of alleys.  Left, left, forward, right, northeast, backtrack, northwest.  You can’t remember all the turns you take after that.

The feeling of being watched grew stronger.

You begin to run.

Stronger.

You begin to panic.

A wall of bones erupts from the ground a few feet in front of you.  You skid to a halt in front of it as you hear someone land behind you from somewhere above.  You turn around, ready to fight if needed be.  You see a skeleton, short in comparison to anyone you’ve ever met.  If the blue bandanna didn’t tip you off to who it was, then the matching blue starry pupils surely would’ve.  Mega told you about this monster before.  A former resident of Underswap.

He went by the nickname of Blueberry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Man, I have so many things already planned out for this thing, but it's so hard to tie them all together!
> 
> Also, I have some sort of a schedule planned out. I think I'm going to alternate between updating Collide and Almost a Rainbow, so that way both stories get updated often and I have some time to plan the next chapter of the other story.
> 
> I found out how to work on this thing on the go, so hopefully chapters will update a bit faster! I now sometimes mentally refer to my phone as my Fanfiction Device. Woo!
> 
> This piece of trash will work on getting you the next chapter as soon as possible, and thank you for reading!


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